to Year 1
In Year 1 there is Miss Stephens and Mrs Laycock and our 30 fabulous children!
Meet the team!
Miss Stephens is a sports enthusiast she spends lots of her time watching football with her Dad and going to the gym with Miss Drury! Her favourite teams is Leeds United and her favourite football player is Declan Rice. Miss Stephens has a very cute golden retriever called Angus! Miss Stephens loves travelling around the world and her favourite city is Barcelona!
Mrs Laycock loves a good cup of coffee and a piece of yummy cake. She loves to create memories with her family and on their mini adventures across the UK! She often likes going to watch the football with her two girls. Mrs Laycock is very artistic and helps make our classroom very beautiful.
Preparing for Advent
Today in RE, we have been all about the word ‘prepare’. We discussed the meaning of the word and where in our lives we have had to prepare before. We learnt all about how countries across the world prepare for Advent and the birth of Jesus. We spent time looking at ‘Christingles’, we discovered the cocktail sticks represent the four seasons, the sweets represent all of God’s creations, the red ribbon is a reminder that Jesus died, the candle reminds Christians of Jesus, the light of the world and that the orange represents our world. We then learnt that many countries over Europe use advent calendars to prepare for the birth of Jesus, we had a go at creating our own.
As scientists I can understand how animals adapt in the winter
Today, we have wowed Miss Stephens with our knowledge of animals in winter. We learnt all about the different animals that migrate, adapt and hibernate. We learnt that penguins and polar bears gain an extra layer of fat in the winter, this is called blubber. We created our own layer of blubber in a glove and tested which hand felt the warmest in ice cold water, we soon found that the blubber helped our hand stay warm in the water! We then discovered birds find it hard to find food in the winter, so we got to work making bird feeders to hang around our field. We learnt lots about hedgehogs and how they hibernate throughout the winter as it is too cold and they would not survive the winter. We designed hedgehog homes to give them a place to rest for the Winter, we then distributed these over the school field.
As artists we can print using fruit and sponges
Today, we used different colours, fruits and sponges to create a print. We looked at the different techniques we had to use and then got printing!
We then evaluated the mediums we had used and decided which we preferred and why.
As Scientists we can collect signs of Autumn- Our half term findings
Over half term, we were all given a treasure bag to collect signs of Autumn. This week, we returned to school and brought with us our bags full of Autumnal things! We were blown away with the different things we had discovered and the changes that had happened to our environment during the change in season. We looked at many objects in detail, discussed what they were and why they were a sign of Autumn. Our parents shared pictures of us on our walks too!
As Scientists we can collect signs of Autumn
Over half term, Year 1 will continue their learning all about Seasons. They have been sent home with a treasure bag and have been asked to get their wellies on and collect things that show signs of Autumn and the seasons changing. They will bring their treasure bags back on the first day back and we will look closely at the items collected and discuss. We can’t wait to see what you can find!
As writers we can write poems about ourselves using similes and metaphors
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been writing poems all about us! We learnt what a simile and metaphor was and included these in our poems. Miss Stephens was blown away by the hardworking, beautiful presentation and choice of similes and metaphors- Well done Year 1!
As scientist we can track weather over a week
Following on from us making weather gauges, we have tracked the rainfall in our area over the last 7 days. Each day, we visited the weather gauge station and recorded the amount of rain that had fallen over night. We kept track using a table and then presented our findings in a bar model. This was our first ever attempt at bar models and the finished pieces of work were OUTSTANDING!
As a scientist we can create a weather gauge to show the change in weather from autumn to winter
Today, we have been learning all about weather. We looked at the different ways of recording the weather around us. We learnt all about the job of a weather gauge and began collecting materials to make our own. Once our materials had been collected, we began creating. First, we cut the bottle in half, we then added stone to the bottom to ensure it does not fall over in the wind. We then created a funnel for the rain into our bottle and attached it using cello tape. We finished by adding cms up the side to help us track how much rain had fallen. We have now positioned them in our outdoor area and will check and record the rainfall each day.
As Mathematicians we can explore number lines
Over the past few weeks, we have been exploring number lines and the important things we need to remember about them. We learnt what a start and end point was, was an interval was and how we complete a number line. Here is a few examples of our very first attempts!
To talk and respond to the story of Noah and the flood and understanding the importance of promises and hope
This week, we have continued our learning all about Noah and the flood. Over the past weeks, we noticed the rainbow was a reoccurring symbol in our story. We learnt that the Rainbow was a symbol of God’s promise that he would never flood Earth again. We discussed how important promises are and decided to make our own promises to God and our world. We created promise bands, this allowed us to be able to share our promises with our friends and family at home too!
As geographers we can explore our local area
This morning, we went on a local area walk around Rothwell. We looked at the different amenities we have in our area and explored the beautiful park we have on our door step. We stopped at different points to discuss what we saw, we will later use these discussions to create our own maps of Rothwell.
As Readers…
We have loved the introduction to our new story box! We have enjoyed sharing this story at home with our families, we then come back to school and share our favourite thing about our story box.
As Scientists we can spot signs of Autumn
Today, we went on a hunt around our school grounds to spot signs of Autumn. We worked with our partners and used our checklist to identify the different signs. We were lucky enough to spot them all, we even noticed the leaves on the trees were turning brown- this was a true sign of Autumn!
Collective Worship
Thank you to our parents and grandparents that joined us this week for our collective worship all about LOVE. We listened to the different ways Jesus and God have show their love for us, and then reflected on who we love and how we show them this.
As Artists we can experiment with tools and surfaces
This week, Year 1 have used tree rubbings to explore different surfaces. We created our own art using the texture of the tree and different tools. We used crayons, pencils, felt tips and oil pastels to explore which tool worked best on this surface. We had lots of fun and our evaluations were fantastic.
As Mathematicians we can show our understanding of fewer, more and same
Today we have been learning new vocabulary, we learnt the words ‘fewer, more and same’. We spent time exploring what all these words meant and then put our knowledge to the test in our new game. We rolled dice to get our starting number, we then had to pick up a domino and decided whether it has fewer, more or the same spots as our dice. We showed fantastic understanding and loved our game!
Year 1’s Story Box
Well done to our lovely William! He was given the very first Y1 story box, filled with lots of lovely reading goodies. Enjoy super star! 🌟
A new child will be chosen each week, but SHHHHH the book must stay a secret!
Dot Day
Today we celebrate Dot Day! We decorated different items of clothing that match different seasons- we have been learning all about this in Science. We then used our imagination to see where our dot would take us. We were all given a blank dot, we had to use our imagination to make that dot whatever we wanted. Here are a few examples of how amazingly creative we are.
Recognise the story of creation from Genesis 1:1-2:3.
Today, we heard all about The Creation Story. We learnt that this story is at the start of the Bible and the story lasts 7 days. We looked at the different symbols that appear to us throughout story. We used play dough in our groups to re-create the symbols and add labels.
Have the opportunity to be aware of the beauty of God’s world & explore & respond to the wonders of creation
Today, we have been thinking all about the world we live in. We spoke about Earth and how special it is, we thanked God through prayer for all his hard work. We spoke about what we already knew about God’s world and then went on a hunt to find all the things we loved the most about God’s precious gift.
Year 1 Planning- 2023/2024
Miss Stephens
Year 1 Long Term Plan:Y1 LTP
Autumn 1:
A1 Medium Term Plan: Year 1 MTP Autumn One 23-24
A1 RE Plan: Y1 RE Planning- God’s Great Plan Autumn 1
A1 Newsletter:AUT1-Newsletter-2023-2024
Autumn 2:
A2 Medium Term Plan: Year 1 MTP Autumn Two 23-24
A2 RE Plan: 1-2-PS-Mary-Mother-of-God
A2 Newsletter: AUT2-Newsletter-2023-2024
Helping at Home
Our Little Wandle learning this week:
End of year expectations:
To support parents in knowing what is expected of Year 1 pupils at the end of the year, we have put links below to documents which detail in child speak. These are here as an aid to support and give guidance only.
Reading & Spoken Language Band 1 Pupil –
Science Band 1 Pupil – Writing
Following our Maths information evening for parents, we have shared some useful documents to see how Maths is taught in school. The most effective way for you to help would be to practice the ‘progression in number facts’ and times tables.
Parents’ Information Evening Nov 18
Rothwell St Mary’s Calculation Policy
Useful phonics links to access:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/advice-for-parents/reading-at-home/phonics-made-easy/
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk
The Geraldine the Giraffe videos on you tube are a useful resource for your child to watch. We sometimes use these within the classroom.
Websites to access at home to help with your child’s learning:
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk
https://www.topmarks.co.uk
https://play.numbots.com/#/intro
Here is a useful video to help with the correct articulation of phonemes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhXUW_v-1s
Homework
Spellings
Please find below the spellings we will be looking at over the Autumn half term. If you would like to do any extra practise at home it is really beneficial to practise using the spellings within sentences. This encourages the children to use the correct spelling when writing independently.
Please find below the list of Year 1 common exception words should you wish to practise these with your child at home.